So how many of the "non-violent" Muslim students will show up with their "Behead All Those Who Insult Islam" signs?
Freedom of Speech PING!Campus cartoon showing planned: It prompts anger by Muslim groups
ASSOCIATED PRESS ^ | February 26, 2006 | By Gillian Flaccus
Posted on 02/26/2006 2:09:42 PM PST by DogByte6RER
Campus cartoon showing planned
It prompts anger by Muslim groups
By Gillian Flaccus ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 26, 2006
IRVINE The cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that sparked mass demonstrations across the Middle East and Europe are causing unrest on a smaller scale at the University of California Irvine, after a student group announced plans to unveil the drawings at a panel on Islamic extremism.
The panel, which is scheduled to take place on campus Tuesday, has prompted angry reaction from several Muslim groups, including the school's Muslim Student Union. Another group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was invited to participate in the panel but is boycotting it, said spokeswoman Sabiha Kahn.
The debate surrounding the student panel follows incidents at other campuses, including Harvard University and the University of Illinois, where student newspapers published the Danish cartoons of the Muslim prophet with a bomb in his turban.
To have a negative portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad is a slap in the face, and we have an obligation to defend our prophet against slurs on his reputation, said Marya Bangee, a sophomore at UC Irvine and a member of the Muslim Student Union. They're trying to draw a link between Islam and terrorism and that's what we've been trying all along to stop.
Organizers say the panel is aimed at promoting dialogue about the cartoons, which have gone largely unpublished in the U.S. media for fear of offending Muslims.
The panel will also discuss Islamic extremism and provide examples of anti-Western, anti-Christian and anti-Semitic drawings that have appeared in some Middle Eastern newspapers, said Jesse Petrilla, founder of The United American Committee, an event organizer.
How can you confront an issue when people don't even see what's going on and what the bottom line is? We really need to get it out on the table, he said. This is the freest nation in the world, and if we can't discuss things openly without being afraid, then we're losing sight of something important.
Bangee said the Muslim Student Union has asked The College Republicans, which joined with The United American Committee to sponsor the event, to pull its affiliation. Without the student Republicans, the event couldn't go forward because The United American Committee is not a registered student group at UC Irvine.
The university has more than 2,000 Muslim-American students.
The Muslim Student Union has received hate mail related to the prophet drawings and has contacted campus police for additional security should the panel go forward, Bangee said.
A College Republicans representative didn't return calls for comment.
Bangee said Muslim students may hold a peaceful teach-in and protest next door to the event if they are unable to stop it.
The Muslim Student Union at UC Irvine last drew national attention in 2004 when more than two dozen students wore green stoles to their graduation. They said the stoles symbolized their faith, but others said the clothing represented allegiance to the militant group Hamas and was meant to intimidate Jewish students.
Thousands of Muslims worldwide have protested sometimes violently against the drawings of the Prophet Muhammad after they were published in a Danish newspaper in September. The drawings are offensive to Muslims because Islamic tradition bans any depiction of Muhammad.
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